When Corny T's Opens, The Kitchen Belongs To May-bowen

A LA CARTE

`I can't wait to feed all these people,'' Edwina May-Bowensays, the excitement palpable in her voice.

May-Bowen, a longtime Hartford caterer, is talking about Corny T's Restaurant and Jazz Cellar, the restaurant, nightclub, jazz venue and banquet facility being planned for the old Spencer's space.

Cornelius ``Corny'' Thompson, the former UConn basketball player, and Ronald K. Salmon, his boyhood friend from Middletown, are the masterminds behind the ambitious venture. And May-Bowen is the person they've picked to head up the kitchen.

To her, it's a fabulous dream coming true.

``I just believe God was a part of all this coming together because I never knew Corny or Ronnie and I was in the right place at the right time and it happened so fast and, I mean, it's like a miracle to me,'' she says.

May-Bowen says she met Thompson and Salmon at a business forum where she was looking to network and obtain funds to move her Winnie's Catering business into a site larger than her own kitchen.

``I said I was an African American/Caribbean caterer, and Corny came right after me,'' May-Bowen says.

Salmon said he and Thompson talked to a number of chefs for the job. They asked May-Bowen to put together a dinner so they could see what she could do. They liked what they found, so she was hired.

May-Bowen plans on serving African American and Caribbean food at Corny T's, with more mainstream American food available for banquets and large parties.

``It will be the real Southern food,'' she says of her African American cuisine. ``I want to have the macaroni and cheese, the greens, the barbecued spareribs.''

As for the Caribbean dishes, May-Bowen is hiring talented island cooks to help her produce the jerk pork, the meat patties, the curried goat and the rice and peas of the region. Look, too, for floats -- deep-fried pockets of dough stuffed with sauteed fish and vegetables, house-smoked meats and dishes featuring callaloo greens.

The menu at Corny T's is going to be sensibly priced. Lunch prices are expected to run from $5.50 to $8.50 and most dinner dishes should be in the $7.50-to-$10.50 scale.

``We want it to be reasonable; we want people to come back,'' she says.

May-Bowen is not the only person chosen by Thompson and Salmon for the project.

Archimage Group of Avon, a company on many Connecticut restaurateur's architectural A-list, has been hired to help renovate the space in conjunction with Brian Wiggins of the New York City- based Focal Point Designs.

Mike Bezrudczyk of Archimage said plans for the design are being drawn up now. In general, three different areas are being developed -- the restaurant, the nightclub and the jazz cellar.

``The final product we're aiming for is an interesting blend of turn- of-the-century and 2001,'' Bezrudczyk says. ``It will look very rich, not high-tech and not contemporary.''

Bezrudczyk said the new restaurant area will seat about 110 people. Although the nightclub will be in the same spot as when Spencer's was hopping, the look and orientation will be different.

Salmon expects Corny T's to open sometime this spring. It will brighten a space darkened since late 1994 when Spencer's closed.

Corny T's, at 10 Capitol Ave., is scheduled to serve lunch and dinner. Salmon expects the restaurant will be open six days a week and closed on Monday.

Choice news

When Navin Gurnaney last checked in, he sounded diplomatically worried about new competition for his Ambassador of India restaurant in Glastonbury. But there was no mistaking the excitement in his voice last week when he called with news that Ambassador of India was voted best Indian restaurant statewide in Connecticut Magazine's 19th annual Readers' Choice awards.

Gurnaney is so happy that he wants to celebrate with his customers.

Patrons on the restaurant mailing list will soon receive a postcard inviting them in for $10 off dinner for two. This offer should be in the mail within a week or so and will run until the end of February.

``Our customers have been very loyal,'' Gurnaney said, downplaying his concerns about competition, concerns that led him to unveil a new menu a few weeks ago.

``When a new ethnic restaurant opens, the followers of those cuisines go and try it. The impact wears off in two or three months and they come back.''

Laughing, Gurnaney said some customers see themselves as scouts, checking out the competition and coming back to report in.

Meanwhile, Gurnaney and his partner, Sheknar Naik, are scouting out a site for a second restaurant in Boston. A location had been chosen but it fell through, he said, adding they would like to open the new restaurant by early summer.

Ambassador of India is at 2333 Main St., Glastonbury. Call (860) 659-2529.

Sesame Eatery

Middle Eastern cuisine is the stuff of the new 15-seat Sesame Eatery in Plainville.

The venture, open about a month, is the dream of sisters Suham and Anaheed Kanderian, two Armenian women raised in Iraq, and Grace Ameer, a native of Lebannon.

Anaheed Kanderian said she and Ameer are retirees and her sister is still working as a substitute teacher as the business gets on its feet.